1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of publishing terminal communication states between a publishing gateway and an instant messaging server.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Emerging protocols such as the Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extension (SIMPLE) and Wireless Village Instant Messaging and Presence Service (Wireless Village IMPS) enable terminals to determine between them the communication state of one of them. Two major drawbacks of the protocols are the necessity to adapt the terminal to the protocol used and to use the same protocol in terminals that have to communicate with each other.
An instant messaging protocol used on the Internet enables a connected computer to determine the communication state of another computer and enables a user voluntarily to publish the communication state of his computer. However, this latter protocol is confined to the Internet.